“Individually, we've got to work on our games and where we're going to get shots, then be ready and confident to take them,” Perkins said.

That mindset will play a crucial part when the Silver Stars (7-2) play the New York Liberty (5-5) at 7 tonight at the AT&T Center.

Playing New York for the second time in a week — the Liberty won 81-75 on July 1 in Newark, N.J. — the Silver Stars will go into tonight's contest trying to regain the offensive rhythm that was integral to their early-season success.

In getting off to a franchise-record 5-1 start, the Silver Stars shot 48.5 percent, including 40.3 on 3-pointers. In their past three games, all on the road, they dropped to 37.7 percent, including 27.7 on 3-pointers.

The Silver Stars overcame their shooting struggles in victories against Atlanta and Chicago, but couldn't do so in shooting a season-low 34.2 percent, including 23.3 on 3-pointers, against New York.

“The negative thing about winning is that we can become complacent, and we can get to the point where we think we're doing so good that we don't have to work,” Silver Stars forward Sophia Young said. “The game in New York was the most effective, because we saw how bad we shot, because we lost. If we had won, we might not have been as critical of ourselves.”

The critical analysis showed that the Silver Stars were relying too heavily on their 3-point shooting. They made 54 of 134 on 3-pointers in their first six games, but just 18 of 65 in their past three games. Against New York a week ago, the Silver Stars were 7 of 30 from behind the arc.

“I think what we've learned is teams are spreading the floor trying to guard us away from the basket,” Silver Stars coach Dan Hughes said. “The lesson we learned was that we've got to balance our attack a little bit. We've got to be doing things in the paint, as well as shooting the three.

“I was pleased that we could go win a couple of games shooting 39 percent. But do I want to keep shooting 39 percent? No, I don't. But I think that's a good sign when you can do that. Now, we're working on execution. Now, we're working on a little balance to our game. Hopefully, that will pay dividends.”

With tonight's game highlighting a stretch in which the Silver Stars will play two games each against New York, Seattle and Los Angeles before the All-Star break, they know things are bound to get tougher.

“We've been shooting the ball well from the 3-point line, but, then again, once we see that we're struggling, we've got to refocus and start attacking and getting the ball inside,” Perkins said. “We don't want to shy away from that — we are a good 3-point shooting team. We just need to know when (to shoot), to kind of balance it out.”